Cubs owner says team will welcome Sammy Sosa when he comes clean

Tom Ricketts said Sosa has to 'put everything on the table'

The Cubs and Sammy Sosa have had a weird relationship for a long time and it just took another turn. At the annual Cubs Convention, chairman/co-owner Tom Ricketts was asked about Sosa and he didn't mince words as to what the Cubs would like from Sosa in order to arrange a public reunion (via ESPN Chicago):

"Players from that era owe us a little bit of honesty," Ricketts said Saturday during the team's annual fan convention. "The only way to turn that page is to put everything on the table."

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"I just think we need to put everything on the table and move forward, full stop," Ricketts said.

Ricketts would be referring, obviously, to the connection between Sosa and PEDs from when he exploded and hit 60-plus home runs three times (an MLB record). He was a rock star of sorts during this time period and easily the most popular player on the Cubs.

Things went south in a hurry, however. The Cubs collapsed down the stretch and missed the playoffs in 2004. On the final day of the season, Sosa left the game early and someone smashed his boombox in the Cubs' clubhouse (for ore on that plus a look at our awesome Bobblehead Project entry, click here). He was traded for pennies on the dollar that offseason and there's been no relationship between Sosa and the Cubs since.

In recent years, the subject has become rather notable, with the Cubs inviting lots of former players to the annual convention, having lots of past stars throw out the ceremonial first pitch or sing the seventh-inning stretch and even giving a lot of former players (even down to relative unknowns such as Steve Trout) 2016 World Series championship rings. Sosa has gotten the cold shoulder throughout everything.

It would appear the proverbial ball is in Sosa's court if he'd like the relationship to change.

Sosa is the Cubs' all-time leader in home runs (545), won the 1998 MVP and helped lead the playoff-starved franchise to the postseason in both 1998 and 2003. He has a decent case for the Hall of Fame, assuming you don't mind the steroid connection. That connection is there, though, and apparently it's a big problem for Ricketts and the Cubs.

Matt Snyder has been a baseball writer with CBS Sports since 2011. A member of the BBWAA, he's now covered every World Series since 2010. The former Indiana University baseball player now lives on the...
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